The Masters Tournament may be next week, but first Augusta, Georgia, will welcome 16 college golf teams this weekend for the 3M Augusta Invitational at the Forest Hills Golf Club.
Texas enters the tournament ranked No. 1 for the first time this season, having won four of its last five tournaments. It’s the second to last event on the schedule before the Longhorns head to Trinity, Texas, for the Big 12 Championship.
Head coach John Fields says he’s looking for his team to get to a “100 percent talent level” heading into the postseason.
“If we’re able to approach that — I don’t know if you ever quite get to it — but if we get to where they’re playing at their talent level, we’ll be a very good team and we’ll be hard to beat,” said Fields, who saw his team pick up its fourth win of the season last week at the Valspar Collegiate in Florida.
The Augusta Invitational will host three other ranked teams, including No. 2 Illinois, No. 3 Georgia and No. 14 South Florida. Rounds one and two will be played on Saturday with round three concluding on Sunday.
The Longhorns are no strangers to success at the Augusta Invitational. Texas won this tournament back-to-back in 2012 and 2013. Former Longhorn and 12-time PGA Tour winner Justin Leonard won the individual title in 1992.
The Texas starting lineup includes sophomore Doug Ghim, junior Beau Hossler, junior Gavin Hall, sophomore Scottie Scheffler and redshirt sophomore Taylor Funk.
“I’m hoping that we do finally hit that point where we’re 100 percent healthy,” Fields said. “Where we hit that point where a lot of the practice and desire helps us reach our goals.”